Method of forming a package of flexible molding strips

ABSTRACT

A method of preparing a package of flexible molding strips for display in an aesthetic manner, which includes the steps of reproducing by silk screening or similar process, a repeating pattern on a large sheet of flexible fibrous or plastic material carrying a pressure sensitive adhesive on one side thereof, with the pattern being repeated in elongated strips on the substrate; then severing the substrate along a plurality of relatively short lines by the use of die rule press knives pressed against the substrate, and concurrently severing the substrate along a pair of relatively longer elongated lines lying to the outside of the relatively short lines of severance to provide a plurality of short lines of severance between a pair of relatively long lines of severance in the substrate; repeating the pattern of a plurality of short lines of severance located between long lines of severance over the entire areal extent of the substrate with all the lines of severance extending substantially parallel to each other, and with the lines of severance being formed between the lines of the decorated figures imprinted on the substrate by the silk screening process. A plurality of the superimposed substrate sheets are then severed along a pair of lines extending normal to the first mentioned lines of severance and positioned adjacent side edges of the substrate at a location such that the pairs or lines of severance adjacent the side edges of the superimposed substrate sheets intersect the relatively long lines of severance previously formed so as to free from each other, portions of the substrate which contain formed between side edges previously constituted by the relatively long lines of severance, a plurality of strips which are separated from each other by the relatively short lines of severance.

United States Patent [151 3,658,000 Ramsey [45] Apr.25,1972

[ METHOD OF FORMING A PACKAGE ABSTRACT OF FLEXIBLE MOLDING STRIPS A method of preparing a package of flexible molding strips for [72] Inventor: 5mm L Ramsey, 4009 Harvey Parkway display in an aesthetic manner, which includes the steps of Oklahoma City Okla. 731 18 reproducing by Sllk screening or similar process, a repeating pattern on a large sheet of flexible fibrous or plastic material [22] Filed: May 4,1970 carrying a pressure sensitive adhesive on one side thereof, [21 APPL No: 34,188 with the pattern being repeated in elongated strips on the substrate; then severing the substrate along a plurality of relatively short lines by the use of die rule press knives pressed against [52] US. Cl ..101/129, 206/56 AB, 282/27 the Substrate, and concurrently severing the substrate along a pair of relatively longer elongated lines lying to the outside of re 0 a the relatively short lines of severance to provide a plurality of 206/56 2 5 g gg g gg i short lines of severance between a pair of relatively long lines of severance in the substrate; repeating the pattern of a plu- 56] R f c Cit d rality of short lines of severance located between long lines of e es e severance over the entire areal extent of the substrate with all UNITED STATES PATENTS the lines of severance extending substantially parallel to each other, and with the lines of severance being formed between 559,598 5/1896 Perdue ..283/15 the lines of the decorated figures imprinted on h substrate b 1,251,241 12/1917 Kldder A the silk screening process. A plurality of the superimposed 1590,58 6/1926 FletFherW "283/22 substrate sheets are then severed along a pair of lines extendl'850856 3/1932 101/32 ing normal to the first mentioned lines of severance and posilf; 3:3 1:3 tioned adjacent side edges of the substrate at a location such 2,797,801 7/1957 Bishop, 06/56 AB that the pairs or lines of severance ad acent the side edges of the superimposed substrate sheets intersect the relatively long 3,361,252 1/1968 Wise ..206/56 AB lines of Severance previously formed so as to free from each Primar Emminer wimam B Penn other, portions of the substrate which contain formed between AnomgyDunlap Laney Hes'Sin & Dougherty side edges previously constituted by the relatively long lines of severance, a plurality of strips which are separated from each other by the relatively short lines of severance.

4 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures 7 l 24 'Dcinlnc1 0000 50 EEI DU UUUJUZO oo 0 00000 011000 00000 a ouoo ntfijflooooo DUDDEJ nn nnn VVV "v oo oo o 'UUDUQO'OOOULUJUOOQQO DDDUDOOOOO ooooo DDEJDOOOOOOUEUUUOOOOO EIEIDDDOOOOO 00000 28 o DDDEJOOOOOULUUUOOOO o l 20/ 14 5 C D PATENTED APR 25 1912 Y M 4% ME? oooo 000000 V, o000n00000 fiW 0000 00000 M 0000 M00000 6 0/000050000 1M r W 5 1 a 2 a raw W n 00/o0n000000 0000n000000 0000n000000 0 0000n00000o H 0000 000000 mdq0 q00m .L 00 0 0n 0] A 0n vn djj c 0m 0m 00 0F 0 Hum fi J33 h OOOOAVOOOOO OOOO VOOOOO I OOOO VOOOOO D 0000 000000 H /OOOO OOOOO 00000 00000 d 0000 00000 0/0000 00000.4 .00000 00000 0w0000 00000 1/ 1 w an been imprinted by some suitable t to provide adecorative molding. When in place,

i to which the molding strip is applied. These frequently been supplied in rolls, orin packages in which the 1 METHOD OF FORMING A PACKAGEOF FLEXIBLE MOLDING STRIPS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION formed includingapluralityof easily separable strips joined together bytransverse web portions which interconnect opposite ends of the strips.

2. BriefDescription of the Prior Art It has been heretofore. known to provide strips of flexible fibrous or plastic material upon which adecorative pattern has process, which strips carry a pressure-sensitive adhesive on one side thereof, and which can be placed. on the edges of cabinet work, furniture, and the like the molding strip appearsto be a portion of the furniture or base material strips have strips are superimposed upon each other.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENT INVENTION This invention relates to a method of preparing packages of decorative molding strips made of a fibrous or plastic flexible material, which strips carry a decorative repeating pattern on one side thereof and which are provided with a pressure-sensitiveadhesive'on the other side thereof which permits the strip to be adhered to a wood or other rigid supporting surface. The packages as manufactured by the method of the present invention, permit a very aesthetic display of the strips which enhances salesof'the packages, and'permits a more profitable marketing of strips of this general type than has been possible with molding strips of this type as they have been previously packaged for the market.

Broadly described, the method of the present invention comprisesinitially imprinting-by a process suchas silk screen printing, a flexible fibrous or plastic substrate, sheet :material with a seriesof longitudinally aligned repeating figures, so that the appearance'of one side of the flexible substrate materialis that of a series of juxtapositioned strips identified by the alignedges are positioned between a pair of relatively .longer cutting-edges. Whenthe superimposed or stacked substrate sheetsare'slitthrough by the use of the die rulepressmade up in the manner described, the substratesheets are cut through or severed along a, plurality of parallel lines which extend less than the 'full width of the sheets, and this results in parallel slits being formed in the sheets between the outer edges thereof.

'Dueto the make-up of thedie rule cutting edges employed, the pattern of slitting which isaccomplished in this manner includes a plurality of pairs of outside. slits which are relatively long,and which bound or lie to the'outside of a plurality of relatively shorter slits which are spaced evenly withrespect to each-other and with respect to'the outside slits. There are thus formed a pluralityof strips within each of the substrate sheets, with thesestripsbeing contiguous and joinedat their opposite ends by web portions which extend transversely of the substratesheet, and normal with respect to the longitudinalaxes of .the several strips. The relatively long boundary slits do not extend completelythroughthis-adjoining web portion of the substrate sheets.

Aftertheslitting process bytheruse ofthedierule press has been accomplished, the stacked or superimposed substrate sheets are then subjected to a transverse cutting procedure using a guillotine blade, or similar cutting device, to cut through the web portions of the stacked sheets in such a way that the relatively long slits formed in the sheets are intersected by the cut made by the guillotine blade. The result of this cutting operation is to separate a plurality of series of joined strips which have the same repeating pattern on each strip in each series, and to thereby provide an attractive package of contiguous elongated strips suitable for use as a molding when applied in a manner well understood in the art.

An object of the invention is to provide a method or process for quickly and easily making an attractive package of easily separated, elongated molding strips which carry a, pressuresensitive adhesive on one side thereof, and which can be easily used by a purchaser to provide a decorative molding on articles of furniture and the like.

Anotherobject of the invention is to improve the aesthetics of packaging elongated flexible molding strips made of a fibrous material and carrying a pressure-sensitive adhesive on one side thereof.

Additional objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent as the following detailed description of the invention is considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. I is a sectional view taken through a die rule press made up for the purpose of practicing the process of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a portion of the die rule press made up in the manner illustrated in section in FIG. I, and useful in the practice of the process of the present invention.

FIGS is-a plan view of a fibrous substrate which has been imprinted with a decorative pattern, and which has been cut or slit with a die rule press of the type depicted in FIG. 2 in one of the intermediate steps in the practice of the process of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the package which is produced as a final product of the process of the present invention.

Referring initially to FIGS. 1 and 2 of the drawings, shown 'therein is a die rule press made up for utilization in the practice of the process of the present invention. The use in the graphic arts technology of die rule presses for cutting through so fibrous and synthetic resin substrate materials to achieve certain patterns and configurations according to the manner in which the substrate is cut is well known. In general, a die rule press is made up similarly to a font of type utilized in printing, and includes, in the illustrated form as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a plurality of spacer blocks 10 and a metallic backing plate 12 which are used to positiomand to set in a desired configuration,a plurality of blade elements 14 and 16. The blade elements l4 and 16 in the die rule press here illustrated, and used in the present invention, are set in parallel relation to each other, and are elongated in configuration, and have a cutting edge 14a disposed at the upper side thereof in an exposed position to facilitate cutting through a substrate sheet as hereinafter explained.

The blade elements 14 extendsubstantially parallel to each other and, as depicted in FIG. 2, are arranged so that there are a plurality (four in the illustrated embodiment) of relatively short blade elements 14 which have their ends aligned inwardly of the outer edges of the wooden blocks 10. The relatively short blade elements 14 are positioned between relatively longer blade elements 16 disposed at the outer sides of the set of blade elements 14. Each pair of outer blade elements 16 and the intermediate, relatively short blade elements 14 located therebetween may be described as constituting an array, and it-will be noted that in the portion of the dierule press depicted in FIGS. 1 and 2, one of the relatively longblade elements 16 may form a common outer blade element for a pair of contiguous arrays. It may also be seen in referring to H0. 2 that the relatively long blade elements 16 which are disposed at the outer side of the intermediate blade elements 14 also do not extend all the way to the edge of the wooden spacer blocks and that the relatively long blade elements also terminate with their ends in transverse alignment similarly to the transverse alignment of the opposite ends of the relatively short blade elements 14. Last, it will be noted that in the illustrated die rule press, the spacing between the several blade elements is uniform.

With the die rule press made up for use in the practice of the process of the present invention, the fibrous or synthetic resin substrate sheets which are to be severed by the die rule press are next prepared. A sheet of fibrous or synthetic resin material which has been provided with a pressure-sensitive adhesive on one side thereof and a printable surface on the other side thereof is passed through a silk screen printing apparatus, or other suitable printing means, to provide on the surface of the substrate material opposite that which carries the pressuresensitive adhesive, a repeating pattern of some suitable type according to the aesthetic designs contemplated. For purposes of illustration only, repeating patterns of the type generally contemplated are shown in FIG. 3 where there is illustrated the surface of a fibrous substrate sheet which has been subjected to the emplacement of a pattern on one surface thereof by a silk screening process. It will be noted that here four different repeating patterns have been produced on the printed surface of the substrate, these patterns being denominated by reference characters A, B, C, and D, and constituting, respectively, a pattern of repeating squares, a pattern of repeating hexagons, a pattern of repeating ellipses, and a pattern of repeating circles. As the sheet 20 has been printed in the example under consideration, the pattern of squares A has been repeated in five elongated columns in which the squares are aligned. The same is true of the hexagon pattern, B, the ellipse pattern, C, and the pattern of circles, D.

After the sheet has been printed in the manner described, the sheets are ready for slitting or severance along certain lines which will be formed according to the manner in which the die rule press has been made up. A plurality of the sheets 20 are stacked on top of each other or superimposed so that a number of the sheets may be cut through simultaneously. Such cutting through of a plurality of sheets by the use of a die rule press is known in the art. Having made up the die rule press in the manner shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the sheets are then placed in either a flat bed press or a rotating drum press, and the sheets are brought against the sharpened upper edges of the blade elements 14 and 16, and pressure is applied to force the blade elements through the sheets to provide slits therein.

When the sheets 20 have been cut through in the manner described, the sheets then carry a plurality of relatively shorter elongated parallel slits 22 which correspond in number to the number of the relatively short knife elements 14. The relatively short slits 22 are disposed between relatively longer slits 24 which have been formed in the substrate sheets 20 by the relatively longer knife elements 16. When the process of slitting the superimposed sheets has been completed, each sheet has the appearance shown in FIG. 3. Thus, parallel slits are formed within the borders or peripheral edges of the sheet, and the sheet remains intact with a plurality of parallel contiguous strips being identifiable therein, and with each strip carrying a repeating pattern over its length. it follows from this result that the slits formed by the blade elements 14 and 16 have been formed between the aligned rows of the repeating figures so that each strip carries the repeating pattern within its borders formed by the slits.

After the sheets 20 have been slit in the manner described by the use of the die rule press, the superimposed sheets are removed from the press and are subjected to a further cutting action using a guillotine blade or other suitable structure which is capable of cutting through a number of the sheets 20 when they are superim sed. The lines along which the sheets are cut in this step of e process are indicated 111 dashed lines in FIG. 3, these lines being identified by reference numerals 28 and 30. It will be seen that by cutting the sheets along the lines 28 and 30, sections of the sheets become severed from each other. These sections correspond to the portions of the sheet which are defined between the relatively long slits 24 formed in the sheet by the relatively long blade elements 16.

By the severance of the sections of the sheets between the relatively long slits 24, there are provided a plurality of packages of strips, with these strips carrying the same pattern and being easily severable from the package due to the small distance which separates the ends of the short slits 22 within each package from the edge of the strip formed after the sheets have been out along the lines 28 and 30. The packages as thus formed are aesthetic in appearance, provide a relatively large number of lineal feet of total molding strip available to the housewife or other purchaser, and facilitate much more ease in usage than rolls or other forms of package which have previously been used to market molding strips of this type.

Although a preferred embodiment of the invention has been herein described in order to exemplify one mode of practice of the method of the invention, it will be understood that various changes and innovations can be effected in the described procedure without departure from the basic principles of the invention. All changes and innovations of this type are therefore deemed to be circumscribed by the basic principles of the invention except as the same may be limited by the appended claims or reasonable equivalents thereof.

What is claimed is:

1. A method of forming a package of flexible molding strips comprising:

imprinting upon a surface of a flexible substrate sheet having an adhesive on the opposite surface thereof, a plurality of parallel, aligned columns of repeating decorative figures;

cutting through the sheet along parallel lines which terminate inside the outer edges of the sheet and extend between the parallel aligned columns of repeating figures, said lines being of two different lengths and forming a series of contiguous parallel line arrays to be formed into separate packages, each of said line arrays including a plurality of relatively short, parallel conterminous lines, and a pair of relatively long, parallel conterminous lines positioned on opposite sides of said relatively short lines, the opposite ends of said relatively long lines extending beyond the opposite ends of said relatively short lines, and all of said lines terminating inside the peripheral edges of said sheet; then cutting said sheet along lines extending normal to, and intersecting, said relatively long lines and disposed between the ends of said relatively short lines and the peripheral edges of said sheet to form a plurality of packages having joined parallel strips of repeating figures thereon.

2. The method of forming a package as defined in claim 1 wherein said cutting is accomplished by:

placing a plurality of die rule cutting elements in an array corresponding to the lines to be cut through the substrate sheet; then placing the die rule cutting elements in a press and pressing them against the substrate sheet to cut through the sheet.

3. The method defined in claim 1 wherein said imprinting is accomplished by silk screening the repeating decorative figures on the surface of the flexible substrate sheet.

4. The method defined in claim 1 wherein a plurality of said sheets are superimposed on each other after the imprinting step and during said first mentioned and second'mentioned cutting steps.

* li k 

1. A method of forming a package of flexible molding strips comprising: imprinting upon a surface of a flexible substrate sheet having an adhesive on the opposite surface thereof, a plurality of parallel, aligned columns of repeating decorative figures; cutting through the sheet along parallel lines which terminate inside the outer edges of the sheet and extend between the parallel aligned columns of repeating figures, said lines being of two different lengths and forming a series of contiguous parallel line arrays to be formed into separate packages, each of said line arrays including a plurality of relatively short, parallel conterminous lines, and a pair of relatively long, parallel conterminous lines positioned on opposite sides of said relatively short lines, the opposite ends of said relatively long lines extending beyond the opposite ends of said relatively short lines, and all of said lines terminating inside the peripheral edges of said sheet; then cutting said sheet along lines extending normal to, and intersecting, said relatively long lines and disposed between the ends of said relatively short lines and the peripheral edges of said sheet to form a plurality of packages having joined parallel strips of repeating figures thereon.
 2. The method of forming a package as defined in claim 1 wherein said cutting is accomplished by: placing a plurality of die rule cutting elements in an array corresponding to the lines to be cut through the substrate sheet; then placing the die rule cutting elements in a press and pressing them against the substrate sheet to cut through the sheet.
 3. The method defined in claim 1 wherein said imprinting is accomplished by silk screening the repeating decorative figures on the surface of the flexible substrate sheet.
 4. The method defined in claim 1 wherein a plurality of said sheets are superimposed on each other after the imprinting step and during said first mentioned and second mentioned cutting steps. 